Career Opportunities

Careers

The Career You Had In Mind: Pharmacy Practice

If you're looking for a pharmacy practice that takes you far beyond the routine and the ordinary, the time is right to make a career move—to one of the world's most prestigious research and teaching hospitals. Cleveland Clinic has expanded and automated its Pharmacy Department with state-of-the-art medication distribution and information systems. So, beyond the opportunities we’ve traditionally been able to offer, we can now empower our pharmacists to take a more proactive role in the care of patients than ever before. When you become a Pharmacist at Cleveland Clinic you join an elite, cosmopolitan corps of professionals.

Nursing Unit Based Practice

Although there is always a significant clinical component to processing or verifying physician orders, Nursing Unit-Based Pharmacists (NUBPs) provide pharmaceutical care services directly to patients. As an NUBP in training, you’ll work closely with a specially assigned Clinical Specialist Mentor. Additional educational programs and competencies may be required depending on the area of practice.

Clinical Specialists

Typically recruited for high risk, high expense or high volume clinical practices, clinical specialists are responsible for direct patient care with a significant education and research component. As such, they must complete specialty residencies and are usually either board-certified pharmacotherapy specialists, have related board certifications, or have completed requirements of the Pharmacy Career Ladder.

Eight Residency Programs

Our residency program lays the foundation for exciting careers. One-year (PGY-1) programs prepare pharmacists for specialty residency training or to work as an NUBP. Two-year programs (PGY-2) prepare residents to pursue careers as clinical specialists in the hospital setting or clinical faculty at a college of pharmacy.

Pharmacist Career Ladder

The purpose of the Pharmacist Career Ladder (PCL) is to provide a formalized process for pharmacists to advance within the profession of pharmacy through enhanced skill sets and/or direct patient care on the nursing unit. The PCL has six positions ranging from a newly licensed pharmacy graduate to a highly specialized clinical practitioner.

Northeast Ohio Has It All

Prestigious cultural and performing arts institutions ranging from the Cleveland Orchestra to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. NFL, NBA and MLB teams. Glittering nightlife, and miles of parkland and lake shore you can roam by day. Northeast Ohio is also home to a number of colleges and universities famous for their contributions to science, art and culture. Cleveland’s theater district is the second largest performing arts center in the country. Nearby, you can take in everything from independent film festivals to off Broadway musical productions, from rock and jazz concerts to some of the finest dining in the country. Northeast Ohio offers a little bit of everything, all at a cost of living well below other major metropolitan areas!

At Cleveland Clinic, you’ll work with the most advanced medication use system that today’s technology can provide. We’ve transformed the entire process all the way from computerized prescriber order entry to a state of the art USP 797 clean room for IV admixtures - to automated repackaging devices and horizontal carousels for drug packaging, storage, inventory control and dispensing - to automated procurement and administration documentation at the nursing unit.

Our Pharmacist Career Ladder provides a formalized process to start as a Staff Pharmacist and advance within the profession of pharmacy through enhanced skill sets and/or direct patient care on the nursing unit. Outstanding pharmacists who have met all of the career ladder criteria including specific competencies, accomplishments and time of service, can advance to become a Clinical Specialist.

Our Pharmacist Career Ladder has six positions ranging from a Pharmacist I (a pharmacist that just completed a PGY-1 Residency) to a highly specialized Clinical Practitioner.

If you’re looking for a pharmacy practice that takes you to the next level—and then give you access to the many levels beyond—the time is right to make a career move to Cleveland Clinic. As valued partners, our Pharmacy Technicians work shoulder to shoulder with pharmacists who practice at the cutting edge of pharmacy. You’ll have the opportunity to advance your career through our Pharmacy Technician Career Ladder while working with the most advanced medication-use system that today’s technology can provide. Cleveland Clinic’s newly constructed inpatient pharmacy has state-of-the-art automated systems, including a 797-compliant clean room, carousel bar-coded dispensing system, Pyxis® cartless unit-dose distribution, and bar-coded packaging systems.

Our Pharmacy Technician Career Ladder has three separate levels and five distinct career opportunities. The Career Ladder enables you to advance from a Technician I (entry-level, PTCB Certified Technician) to a Technician III, in which you would have work-leader responsibilities.